Kings Go Forth

Frank Sinatra made an awful lot of World War II pictures, though he never looked terribly convincing dressed in battle uniform (especially the helmet, which covers most of him). Here, he's a no-nonsense Lieutenant with the U.S. Army stationed in France, fighting the Germans as well as Corporal Tony Curtis, an educated, self-assured trust fund kid on the run from his life of privilege. They spar a bit before becoming buddies, but when Curtis quickly and skillfully steals Sinatra's girl away...well, war is hell. The girl is played by Natalie Wood--she's French by way of West Virginia and Philadelphia!--and there's some hesitant talk early on of her being from a white mother and a black father (it gives Frank momentary pause, but Tony thinks of her ancestry as a novelty). The European locations are well-chosen, though director Delmer Daves' staging is sometimes poor (Frank is struck by Natalie the first time he sees her--which is to say, the back of her head!). The battle scenes are also disappointing, hurt mostly by choppy editing, and when Sinatra and Curtis take on a treacherous plan of attack near the end, we're not sure why these two were picked (other than the fact they're the stars). Not a very good movie, but not a boring one either. Wood's accent is for the birds, but Curtis fills the bill nicely and Sinatra does a solid dramatic turn. His narration is overused, and he has more chemistry with the woman playing Wood's mother than Nat herself; but, for a wartime soaper, a fairly interesting occasion. **1/2 from ****

My father owns a paperback edition of the Joe David Brown novel which inspired this film and I recall reading it many years ago. Ever since his Oscar triumph in FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (1953), Frank Sinatra tried to augment his typically light material with heavier stuff: in 1958, he had two of the latter back-to-back (along with Vincente Minnelli’s SOME CAME RUNNING) and, curiously enough, he finds himself with the less showier of the lead roles here.

Tony Curtis’ part as the smooth-talking but put-upon charmer is effectively an extension of his Sidney Falco in Alexander Mackendrick’s SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS (1957). The female roles are equally well filled: a lovely 19-year old Natalie Wood plays a young mulatto American raised in France who comes between Army “buddies” Sinatra and Curtis, while 35-year old Leora Dana is cast as Wood’s proud middle-aged mother (she must have quite impressed Sinatra because she was in SOME CAME RUNNING too – as Arthur Kennedy’s wife).

The film – backed by a fine score from Elmer Bernstein and including a jam session featuring Curtis and real-life jazz musicians – is well enough made scene by scene and certainly well acted, but the effect is slightly diluted by the unnecessary and ultra-soapy coda (Sinatra losing an arm, Dana dying, Wood gathering together and teaching war orphans – but especially the corny children’ song at the very end). The film is much more of a romantic melodrama than it is a war movie, but the few action sequences therein are good and well spread out throughout the film.

Delmer Daves may have been best renowned for his Westerns – but his very first shot as a director had actually come via a war movie, DESTINATION TOKYO (1943), and he eventually returned to the same territory intermittently with PRIDE OF THE MARINES (1945), TASK FORCE (1949) and, finally, KINGS GO FORTH itself.

This film is done quite well. Frank and Natalie's roles are well done-the surplus of war scenes detracts a bit from the love story and the ending is a surprise, but it's a great film. Remember the age difference b/w Sinatra and Wood!!

I'm still upset about this film. Its been over for 15 minutes and I'm still having bursts of tears and I want to settle down so I can go upstairs to sleep. Its a good war movie and a great love story about a triangle between Wood, Sinatra and Curtis. Sinatra plays the guy a lot of us feel like in high school when the slickster scum (Curtis) moves in on the one you're crazy about. The racial issue is not nearly as important as the basic trianglular struggle, with a not meagre war plot well mixed in. Obviously Wood does not remotely look half black (as she is supposed to be) and her French accent leaves a bit to be desired but she is beautiful, Curtis is handsome and Sinatra plays quite well the man whose beauty lies within. Most of today's movies are 50 cent scripts with 50 million dollar special effects and no class. This movie is the exact opposite on all counts. Super acting, story and heart. Made me cry more than once. This is why I like old movies better than new. A movie that its makers could be proud to offer their maker.

Kings Go Forth is one of, maybe the only, film about the Allied offensive in Southern France in late summer of 1944. Several divisions who were fighting in Italy under Mark Clark were sent to invade France from the south. The action as compared to the larger shows movie east from Normandy and north up the Italian peninsula was light as the Germans were retreating to protect their own borders. It was called the champagne offensive because it was as you see it with Frank Sinatra and Tony Curtis, fighting one minute, and on a weekend pass the next.

Frank Sinatra narrates the story with him as one of the protagonists. He's an army lieutenant and he's just gotten some replacements for his company, one of them being Tony Curtis. Curtis is a spoiled rich kid, a real smooth operator. But he turns out to be a good soldier and he and Sinatra become friends despite Sinatra being an officer and Curtis non-com.

Then the two of them get interested in the same girl, Natalie Wood. She's an American expatriate living with her widowed mother, Leora Dana. Her father was a black man and they left the United States many years before to escape ruling prejudices. Ironic that they escape to France and then France gets occupied by the real prejudice merchants.

The film is divided equally, half of it concerning the war and half of it dealing with the romantic triangle. For the second time in his career, the first being in Sweet Smell of Success, Tony Curtis plays a heel and does it well. Curtis was really coming into his own as a player and not just a pretty face. Kings Go Forth was filmed on the heels of his Oscar nominated performance in The Defiant Ones.

Frank Sinatra gives one of his best screen performances in Kings Go Forth. None of the hipster slang, not the nebbish of his forties musicals, Sinatra plays a really good man trying to deal with his own inner conflicts about what he's been brought up to believe and the feelings he has for Wood. It's something different and Sinatra does it well.

Natalie Wood was as beautiful as they come and Leora Dana as her mother who's seen too much of the world and is determined to protect her daughter has some of her best screen moments. Tony Curtis liked working with Natalie Wood very much in the films they made together, but he does mention in his autobiography it would have really been great if someone like Dorothy Dandridge had been cast in her role. It might have made Kings Go Forth better remembered today, as much as classic as Guess Who's Coming To Dinner.

Elmer Bernstein did the film score and one of the themes was given a lyric by Sammy Cahn and became the song Monique after Natalie Wood's character. Frank Sinatra made a hit record of it though it is only heard instrumentally in the film. It's one of his loveliest ballads.

Viewers should see the film before hearing Sinatra's record of it. The whole premise of the film is the plain Sinatra and the smooth Curtis competing for Wood. You hear old Blue Eyes sing Monique and you'll find it hard to believe why he didn't just sing that song.

Why Natalie would have melted right away in his arms.